Parathion By Colin Reynolds

Is the molecule naturally occurring? Is it synthesized? Where does it come from? This molecuele is man made so it isnt naturally occurring. Parathion is synthesized from diethyl dithiophosphoric acid, C8H10NO5PS Parathion comes from manufacturing it in facilities as a chemical. The chemical in its pure form looks like white crystals while when distributed, it’s a brown liquid.

When was it discovered? How was it discovered? It was discovered in the 1940’s be Gerhard Schrader, a German chemist. It was discovered when Schrader was looking for chemicals that increased agricultural yields so WWII troops could be fed in Germany for war time. The company he developed it for was IG Farben a German chemical company involved in WWII.

What are the direct uses of this product? The direct use of Parathion is for farmers crops because it’s a pesticide that works really well on keeping insects off crops. What are the indirect uses? Indirect use is in the chemical Chlorinesterase and that is the only indirect use.

How has the synthesis of this molecule changed its uses / cost Now that its synthesized it gets imported illegally because its banned in a lot of countries. The synthesized Parathion now can make it to other countries that haven't banned it because we can make a lot of it. The cost hasn’t seemed to changed because its not that hard to make and we can make lots of it.

What are the direct risks of making or using this product? The direct risks include harming the people who work with it and the ones who manufacture it because it can poison and kill you when overexposed to it. It also harms the people who eat it, and you’d eat it by eating food with the pesticides on it.

What are the indirect risks of making or using the product? There aren’t any indirect risks of making Parathion. Only when its completely made is when its harmful when exposed to it.

What are the direct and indirect benefits from this product? The only benefit there was to this product was that it actually protected crops good so we didn’t lose a lot of crops. Indirectly, there is no benefits because it just harms anything to do with humans.

Are there alternatives that could be used that may lessen the risks? The alternatives to Parathion include synthetic pyrethroids, carbamates and organphosphates that are less toxic to us. There isn’t a way found to make it safer to manufacture because it is banned throughout the world.